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Booming year in building permits

North Battleford had a year for building permits in 2010, with final numbers beating 2009 in both numbers of permits and permit values.

North Battleford had a year for building permits in 2010, with final numbers beating 2009 in both numbers of permits and permit values.

A total of 154 building permits were issued in 2010 for a value of $47,950,300, up from 149 permits for $24,309,250 last year.

The overall building permit value for 2010 represents a record for the entire period since 1980.

According to a report on permit values presented at Monday night's municipal services committee meeting, the previous high for the 1980-2008 period was set in 2007 when just over $28 million in permits were issued. The number of permits issued in 2010, 154, does not represent a record, as permits averaged well over 200 a year during the 1980s.

It had been known since April that permit values for 2010 were going to beat the 2009 numbers; the only question had been by how much.

As it turned out, North Battleford got a boost in December from one new institutional permit issued for $8,085,000 (for the Harwood Manor project on Clements Drive), as well as a garage/carport permit for $40,000 and a residential alteration, also for $40,000.

There were no new dwelling permits issued in December, but that did not put a dent into the good numbers for 2010 in that category. A total of 28 new dwelling permits were issued for $6,940,000, up from 16 issued for $3,872,000 the year before.

The permit numbers in the residential category were better than last year, though short of the 54 permits issued in 2007 for a permit value of $12,843,000.

New condo unit numbers showed little change, with four permits issued for $3,104,500, compared to four issued for $3,586,500 the previous year.

There were also 34 garage/carport permits issued for $562,200, compared to 20 issued for $377,000 in 2009. A total of 38 residential alterations were issued in 2010 for $685,800, compared to 29 for $690,800 in 2009.

The big spike in permit values came in the industrial and institutional categories. Four new industrial permits were issued for $10,650,000, compared to three for $605,000 the year before.

Five industrial alteration permits were issued for $7,850,000, compared to six for $1,243,300 last year. And December permit in the new institutional category for $8,084,000 compares to one permit issued in 2009 for a value of $1,165,800.

A total of 12 sign permits were issued for $241,000, compared to nine for $161,350 in 2009.

Few categories saw drops in permits. The main drop was seen in the commercial alterations category, which saw a drop from 20 permits issued for $6,142,000 in 2009 to eight permits for 4,357,000 in 2010.

As well, no building permits were issued in the RTM-prefabricated category, which had brought in $2,022,000 for 13 permits issued in 2009 for what was one-time-only business.